Friday, July 31, 2009

Morimoto Black Obi Soba Ale

You know what sucks? Well, I'm going to tell you. Buying new tires for a car that I don't own and need to return to VW Credit in 9 months. But I guess safety first, right? And shit, another very expensive thing to buy that I hadn't intended on buying. But I bit the bullet and ordered from Costco the cheapest tires that meet the safety standards of the car (otherwise these dudes wouldn't install them).

After the tires were delivered to Costco, I strategically planned to have them actually installed yesterday. You see, my wife is going out of the country for a few days, and I'll be home alone with just my three year old and my beer. The strategy came into play because across the street from Costco, walking distance despite the 8 lane highway, is BFF Total Wine, where I could kill the 1.5 hour installation time looking for a few new gems to check out. And I picked up a handful.

Let the drinking begin. Today I'm starting out with Morimoto Black Obi Soba Ale brewed by Rogue Ales in Newport, Oregon. Wow, that's a mouthful and I haven't cracked big 22 open yet. So off to Google to see what that hell some of these Japanese words mean; at least I'm guessing Japanese since this beer is branded Morimoto. OK so Japanese it is. Japanese writing on the cap, too. Obi = sash, so we've got the black sash (could it be black belt like karate?) part of it. Soba = type of thin Japanese noodle, and the label of the bottle said there is roasted soba in the ingredients. (BTW, I don't care if you like me using Wikipedia as a factual resource or not, and the one about Soba is not even documented with references. If someone has the time to put fake soba entries into Wiki, then they are really lame.) So we have the Black Obi version of Rogue's Soba Ale, which is supposedly richer and has some other distinctions according to the bottle.

This beer has a rich, nutty caramel and light coffee aroma. Smells delicious. There is an immediate nutty and malty flavor, along with some roasted notes. Then you taste some good hoppiness as it comes in and balances those flavors out nicely. There is then some bubbly action in your mouth, kind've different. And you can also taste a little bit of spiciness, but it's some flowery spice, one I don't have in my kitchen or I'd try to figure it out. The one thing I was surprised about was that it wasn't nearly as full-bodied as the aroma led me on to believe it would be (and that's not the first time I've been led on like that). Light-medium body, very smooth and pretty refreshing considering the smoky and roasted flavors left on my palate. I liked it!